Bitcoin Back at $6,500; Iceland Miners to Aid New Tech Revolution

Although a week ago the trading signals suggested Bitcoin could be in for a slide, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by trading volume managed to hold its position and climb well over it. Aided by increased interest in the coin and a buying sentiment, Bitcoin managed to break over $6,500 at the start of the week – a range that is already being tested, as indicated by the current market signals.

According to Forbes magazine, there are two major things that might be pushing Bitcoin’s price upwards. The first is that Coinbase, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges on a global scale, recently launched a new custodial solution for the cryptocurrency market. Named Coinbase Custody, the new product combines brokering services and cold storage solutions to cryptocurrency investors and it is expected to bring top-notch hedge funds to the crypto-sector.

Another reason, as the magazine suggests, is the positive opinion on cryptocurrencies voiced by a new EP (European Parliament) research paper. In the paper, called “Virtual currencies and central bank’s monetary policy: challenges ahead”, the Parliament approves of cryptocurrencies with caution, saying they are relatively fast, safe, and transparent.

Market Signals Show a Selling Trend

Bitcoin’s price movements have mostly remained positive since our last update, allowing the price to climb from its lowest point of $5,838.97 on Friday to a peak of $6,670.11 this Monday. As suggested by the market stats, it seems that the price boost was driven by an increase in 24-hour trading volume, which went from $3.45 billion to over $5.5 billion when the price of Bitcoin hit a peak. Understandably, together with the price boost, Bitcoin’s market capitalization also rose from being close to $100 billion to the current $111 billion.

Per our technical analysis, the current market signals show that bears have the upper hand and that a price correction may be in order. Out of 12 technical oscillators, 10 are in the red zone, with the RSI even suggesting that the cryptocurrency is being oversold. Out of 12 moving averages, 7 are also sending us a selling signal. The SMA 100 is still over the SMA 200, showing there’s still less resistance to the upside. However, as the 1H signals already tested the $6,400 range and the MACD is at -21,000, we could be looking at $6,260 (SMA 200) as the next level. As always, keep your eyes on the price and make sure you set your Take Profit limits.

Miners in Iceland to be Used for Future Tech Advancements

It has been long reported that Iceland is a hotbed for cryptocurrency mining due to the country’s suitable cold weather and low electricity costs. At one point, mining in Iceland consumed as much electricity as all of the households in the country, which was met with disapproval from the local population. But according to a recent Bloomberg report, having such a big mining community may not be a bad thing for Iceland at all.

As reported by the financial portal, Iceland is now looking for new uses for the already-established mining infrastructure. Realizing that Bitcoin mining may not be so valuable to the country in the future, the local mining community is looking for new applications for their mining operations. Some of the new suggestions are to build data centers for deep learning applications for technologies like automatic translators or self-driving vehicles. Whatever it is, local mining operations are already seeking a new industry that will also help them give something back to the country, rather than just exploit its cheap electricity and hospitality.